Company details

Irving, TX

HEADCOUNT

10000+

ORG TYPE

Corporate

SECTOR

Manufacturing & Industrials

WEBSITE

https://www.caterpillar.com/en.html

About the company

Caterpillar is a global manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and locomotives. Caterpillar also provides aftermarket parts and services through a large dealer network, and offers financing for equipment purchases through related financial services. Caterpillar sells to customers in construction, mining, energy, transportation, and public infrastructure. Caterpillar is headquartered in Irving, Texas and operates worldwide.

Locations and presence

Caterpillar is headquartered in Irving, Texas and has a large US footprint alongside major operations across Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. Work setup depends on role, with many roles tied to on-site manufacturing and facilities, and a widely reported move to five days a week in-office for US corporate employees starting June 2, 2025.

Palpable Score

79.8

/ 100

Caterpillar offers a wide set of early-career entry routes, including internships, apprenticeships, placement years, and multiple rotational development programs with defined timeframes. Hiring process structure is visible in many roles, but candidate experience varies by function and location, which is common at Caterpillar’s scale. Pay transparency is better than most large manufacturers for interns and early talent roles, and outcomes look positive for many early-career hires, though not consistently documented with cohort-level promotion or retention stats.

Pillar 1: Early-career access

Score

18.0

/ 20

The company runs a dedicated Students & Graduates pipeline that includes US internships plus a Student Trainee Program that starts as early as high school and community college.

Caterpillar publishes multiple structured rotational routes for recent graduates, including Engineering Rotational Development, Field Representative Development, Finance Leadership Development, Information Technology Development, and Leadership & Technical Development programs with stated program lengths.

The company also advertises UK early talent schemes (graduate schemes, 12-month placements, summer internships, and apprenticeships), giving entry points beyond the US campus model.

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Pillar 2: Hiring fairness and transparency

Score

14.0

/ 20

The company has many intern and early-career job ads that spell out practical application guidance (for example, directing candidates to track status through the candidate portal and to monitor email as the primary recruiting channel).

Caterpillar has a large volume of candidate-reported interview patterns that repeat across roles, including online assessments, recorded video questions, and structured behavioral interviews.

The company also shows role-to-role variability, including multi-stage loops like hackathons for some intern tracks, which can make timelines and expectations feel inconsistent across teams.

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Pillar 3: Learning and support

Score

16.8

/ 20

The company designs early-career rotations with explicit development touchpoints such as professional summits and structured rotation experiences, and several programs state multi-year learning-by-rotation as the core model.

Caterpillar describes front-loaded training in specific programs, such as the Field Representative Development Program starting with a 13-week development phase (training, workshops, presentations, and business exposure) before longer rotations.

The company links learning support to benefits as well, including mentoring and tuition reimbursement as part of the broader rewards and development package.

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Pillar 4: Pay fairness and stability

Score

16.0

/ 20

The company publishes employer-provided pay ranges on many intern and student roles, including corporate internships that list hourly ranges and spell out extras like housing stipends, relocation assistance, paid holidays, and paid volunteer time.

Caterpillar also posts salaried early-talent roles in some markets (for example, UK placement roles with a stated salary and benefits like pension and annual leave), which reduces guesswork for students comparing offers.

The company’s pay transparency is not universal across every geography and job family, so some early-career candidates still face “competitive pay” language without an advertised range.

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Pillar 5: Early-career outcomes

Score

15.0

/ 20

The company positions early talent schemes as a feeder into long-term careers, including UK scheme messaging that many leaders and technical specialists started through these programs.

Caterpillar has strong early-career sentiment signals on review platforms, including a high overall company rating and notably strong ratings from intern job families compared with the overall average.

The company states that outstanding placement students may receive conditional job offers at the end of placements, but Caterpillar does not consistently publish cohort-level outcomes like promotion rates, conversion rates by program, or early-tenure retention.

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Useful links & resources

Caterpillar Students & Graduates: Interns and Graduates Caterpillar Professional Development Programs (Rotational Programs)Caterpillar Job Search